Saturday, July 30, 2016

Did you know you can trust only 20% of the olive oils that you find in a supermarket? There are a lot of fraudulent olive oils out in the market, so you have to know what you are buying. For example, you can go local and buy California olive oil. I recently attended a tasting and dinner with California Olive Ranch and tried their oils by themselves and in dishes prepared by Chef Antonia Lofaso at Scopa!

And a tip when buying olive oils in the supermarket: look for dark bottles, single country of origin, and seal of authenticity. Harvest date would be a plus, as well!

My evening started with some appetizers and cocktails, all of which feature California Olive Ranch olive oils!
Yes, the cocktail, too. The Sierra Norte was made with mezcal, aperol, serrano peppers, pineapple, and lemon, with California Olive Ranch Limited Reserve Olive Oil. The oil added a nice, unique mouthfeel to the drink.
The first appetizer: Cured salmon, spring peas, toasted caraway, topped with the same olive oil as the cocktail.
Ricotta crostini
Veal tartare, capers, shallots, fresh horseradish, seasoned with California Olive Ranch Mild & Buttery Olive Oil.
California may be known for the almonds and wines and so on, but did you know that California also produces 95% of the olives grown in the US? There's about 27,000 acres of olive orchards in the state!

We tasted a couple of the California Olive Ranch olive oils (and a fake supermarket one!). You swirl and sip just like wine, but just like wine, olive oils can also go bad, so don't keep them in your pantry too long.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

When I first learned of Carolina’s Italian Restaurant, I
discovered that they have over 400 beers available, arguably the largest beer list in the area. That being said, I set the
bar low for food and I wasn’t expecting much.

Carolina’s Italian Restaurant originally opened over 35 years
ago and has been a strong foothold in Orange County. They recently opened up
another restaurant in Anaheim, just down the street from Disneyland. My wife
and I recently dined there for dinner.

My wife ordered the Alley Cat Amber beer from Left Coast Brewery. This beer had a nice color and was medium bodied. My house sangria was cold, fruity and refreshing. This established a nice tone for our evening.

Instead of being served with something like cold sourdough bread, diners are presented with Carolina’s Cheesy Bread. Pizza dough is rolled and topped with a generous amount of fresh mozzarella cheese, pasta sauce and a mix of Italian herbs. This is baked in their pizza oven and delivered to the table while it’s still hot.

I was impressed
that they use fresh herbs in their dishes and later discovered that many of the
vegetable and herbs are grown in their garden in the rear of the property. In
fact, our server helps to take care of the garden.

Polly-O-Caprese is named after the Polly-O brand of mozzarella cheese.

This is made with a thick slice of mozzarella cheese and
placed over fresh tomatoes, basil, capers, red onions and served with olive oil
and balsamic vinegar. The addition of capers worked very well with the basil
and the red onions.

Other appetizers on the menu include calamari, fried mozzarella sticks,
fried zucchini sticks and buffalo wings.

Frutti di Mare is a popular seafood dish comprised of shrimp, mussels, scallops and fresh clams.

It is served over fettuccine with tomatoes, onions and basil mixed with
a small amount of marinara sauce. Because they don’t drown it in sauce, I was
able to taste the flavors of each shellfish.

The “Tour of Italy” consists of smaller portions of three of their Spaghetti and Meatballs, Shrimp Alfredo and Penne Pesto

Both my wife and I thought that their Penne
Pesto was the best of the three offerings. It was filled with a generous amount
of chunks of grilled chicken. Unlike many pesto dishes, this was creamy and not
oily.

For dessert, we tried their tiramisu and their chocolate cake.

Both items were moist, full of
chocolate and delicious. They also have strawberry or Oreo cheesecake, spumoni,
mousse cake and ice cream available.

While we were
there, we noticed a nice mix of people dining: young adults, families and
senior citizens. Comfort seems to be one of the intents of the owners with quite a number of leather booths available.

Even if you
aren’t in the mood for pasta, they have a number of other offerings such as
soups, salads, sandwiches and pizza. The next time we visit Disneyland, we will
definitely consider eating at Carolina’s Italian Restaurant.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

I love tiramisu. I've loved tiramisu ever since I can remember having eaten tiramisu. Tiramisu is supposedly invented in 1969 in Treviso, near Venice, so I figured being in Venice got me close enough to hunt for a great one. An online search turned up I Tre Mercanti as a potential contender.

But of course, I'm here for the tiramisu. Multiple tiramisus, in fact. I Tre Mercanti has many flavors of tiramisu, from the classic (coffee), mango, amaretto, pistachio. They claim that they make them fresh every hour, and when they do you can actually see the action through the window.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Bar Toscana is the cocktail bar next door to longtime Brentwood favorite, Toscana. The Italian trattoria has been in business for 26 years. In the competitive culinary world of Los Angeles, that means they must be doing something right!

For their cocktails at Bar Toscana, they have brought William Perbellini who came from Italy to head the bar program here.

Perbellini's cocktail menu ranges from the classics to the seasonal, like this Costa Esmeralda (cognac, Grand Marnier, grapes, and sage)

I love grapes as a cocktail ingredient, and here it is paired with a grape-based spirit.

Barrel aged negroni with Plymouth gin, campari, and sweet vermouth

This was an unusually good negroni, expertly made and even smoother thanks to the barrel aging.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

First, let's talk about the name. Brelundi may sound like an Italian word to some, but it actually just refers to "breakfast lunch dinner" - the three meals this Italian cafe in Waltham serves. They actually have quite a unique breakfast offerings. Breakfast, Sicilian style. Brelundi is open from 7am everyday and it's close to the T station, so it's great stop for locals on their way to work.

The unassuming eatery actually has quite a few surprises, like their breakfast arancini ($4 each). If you're not yet familiar with it, arancini is a fried risotto ball and it is said to have originated in Sicily back in the 10th century. They're usually filled with cheese, meat, or vegetable, but Brelundi takes a unique approach with their breakfast versions!

The breakfast arancinis, which were quite big - two might fill me up, are filled with either eggs and spinach, or eggs and sausage. They're also great for a grab-and-go breakfast since it's easy to hold and eat them with your hands.

I really enjoyed these since I usually like both arancini and eggs in general, why not put them together, right?

There's also a 12" breakfast pizza for $8, topped with fresh, housemade mozzarella cheese, bechamel sauce, eggs, and a choice of spinach, prosciutto, or sausage.

I was impressed by the thin crust of this pizza - usually I end up not eating the edges of pizza because it's too doughy or too plain or something, but this one was nice and crisp.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Fiorella's in Newton has been around for 15 years; the owner was only 23 when they opened. The restaurant used to be half the size and had since expanded to include the bar area. This restaurant has a lot of local following - it's off the beaten path and can be a little hard to find at first, but people keep returning and I went to find out why along with a group of other Boston bloggers.

Before sitting down for dinner, we mingled over a glass of Blueberry Smash, made with bourbon and blueberry simple syrup.

The new bar area

We shared some appetizers to start: Arancini (large crisp risotto ball stuffed with mozzarella cheese, served with their signature marinara sauce, $7)

A nice dish that also showcases their marinara sauce. It's quite a comforting dish with the melted cheese and the hearty sauce.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Neptune Oyster is a small seafood restaurant in the North End, and one of the most popular in town. If you don't get there early enough, waits can go up to over an hour! Luckily, we came pretty early and got seated before too long.

Since the place is called Neptune Oyster, we obviously had to start with some oysters. They have one of the bigger selections in town. This time, we tried 4 different oysters from the area: Katama Bay (Edgartown, MA), Thatch Island (Barnstable, MA), Browne's Point (Damariscotta, ME), and Summerside (Bedeque Bay, PEI)

Everything was extremely fresh - I think I liked the Summerside the best from this batch.

Neptune is famous for their lobster roll: Maine Lobster roll, hot with butter ($27)

It's one of the most expensive in the city, but also one of the best. It's served on a buttery brioche bun, and the lobster is soaked in hot butter. It's so rich, the bread gets drenched and the roll becomes messy, but you won't care as you devour it.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Food-wise, it seems that people travel to East Boston for two reasons: Santarpio's and Rino's Place. They've both been institutions in what is called Eastie (Rino's Place has been around for about 25 years). The wait at Rino's Place can get so long that they opened a bar/cafe across the street called Prima E Dopo (which means Before and After) that they suggest people go while waiting. I purposefully came at an odd hour, around 3:30pm to avoid both the lunch and dinner crowds. I got seated immediately but the restaurant was still more than half full.

Layered eggplant with mozzarella and creamy pesto sauce. You can order half or a full order. The half is already plenty and is only $6.

Eggplant parmigiana is one of my favorite comfort food and I knew I was going to like this variation since I love pesto. I was right and I had to stop myself from devouring the entire thing since I still had another dish coming.

I came for this: the housemade ravioli filled with ricotta cheese. This dish is nominated for Best Pasta for the upcoming Chowzter North American awards. (A similar dish but stuffed with both lobster and ricotta has been featured on Food Network).

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Established in 1903 (over 111 years ago!). Inducted to the Boston Hall of Fame. Voted Best of Boston at least 9 times. Who else can claim all of those but Santarpio's Pizza? While East Boston remains relatively undeveloped, this is one of the reasons people travel to Eastie.

The pizza at Santarpio's is not like other styles you've had. You can call it more "rustic" with a thicker crust and the Italian cheese baked on top of the toppings.

The housemade sausage and garlic are popular toppings, but I also like the anchovies that come with The Works. If you like spicy, though, you have to try the pickled hot cherry peppers! The peppers that come with The Works are just green peppers, so remember to ask for the HOT peppers. If you don't want those on your pizza, you can get them with the bbq'd meats also.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

One of the things I love about New York is the lunch prix fixes, allowing you to try some of the city's best restaurants for a lot less money. When I went with my mom and my aunt last time, we tried Del Posto's lunch: $49 for three courses (with an option to add pasta for $10). With three of us, we got to try a lot of things!

The lunch started with some complimentary finger sandwiches and Cauliflower soup

Bread service

The menu at Del Posto is seasonal, of course, though you might still find some mainstays like this
Vitello Tonnato (olive crostone, caper shoots, lime cells, lemon basil)

Vitello tonnato is a Piedmontese dish of veal slices served in a creamy tuna sauce.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

I recently had the opportunity to try out Nebo at a lunch with Backyard Farms. Backyard Farms is a tomato farm in Central Maine. Their 42 acres grow 4 tomato varieties that supple Whole Foods and some restaurants in the area. It's one of the few farms in New England that grow year round (most are just in winter - not something I thought about much while in California) and they recently won Best Products Supplier in North Atlantic Region from Whole Foods.

They're launching a new varietal called Somerset Pink that has been in the making for 2 years. It's tough to grow tomatoes! The somerset pink is like a beefsteak tomato so the texture is robust for salads and sandwiches, but it has a higher sugar content than most other beefsteak tomatoes.

Our lunch at Nebo started with a plate of Backyard Farms Somerset Pink tomato with burrata, saba, EVOO

So, saba is the must that results from the first pressing of wine grapes, that is then cooked and concentrated to a syrupy consistency. It has a strong, balsamic-vinegar like flavor that goes really nicely with the fresh tomatoes and creamy burrata.

The restaurant is started by 2 Italian sisters who hail from Boston's North End. Before opening the restaurant, they were running a hair salon. But one day, one of them decided she wants to open a restaurant serving their mother's style of cooking. They have some great stories about the North End to tell!

Did you know that North End is still separated into regions of Italy? The people living on Endicott and Prince Sts are from Naples while those on Waterfront are Sicilian! Italians are known to be very loyal and they still buy from same purveyors in North End that their grandmother used. That also means they have great relationships and can call them in the middle of the night should emergency arise.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Among the Boston restaurant that my LA friends recommended to me was Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette's Coppa. Chef Jamie Bissonnette won the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Northeast region this year. I was pretty excited to try this place and it didn't disappoint.

Coppa was smaller and more casual than I had expected; a cozy enoteca in the South End with reasonable prices.

I started with the Sea urchin panino with lonza and mustard seeds

Even though the uni flavor wasn't that strong here, I loved it nonetheless since it worked nicely with the lonza (cured pork tenderloin, also known as lomo) sandwiched between thin, crunchy bread.

This was followed up by the Beef heart pastrami crostini

It did not taste as offal-y or gamy as I had expected, but it was tender and flavorful.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

I'm always looking for places near Toyota Santa Monica to kill time whenever I take my car in (since that Toyota location has no wi-fi). During my last service, I walked over to Broadway to the new-ish CiBOTECA, a cafe and marketplace that serves paninis, cold deli items, and desserts.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

With the rise of inventive and off-the-wall menus these days, we sometimes forget how good how good old school cooking is - like classic Italian, for example. At Il Piccolo Verde, a cute, small, Italian place in Brentwood, I was recently reminded of it.

The Baked eggplant parmigiana is a bit different, since it is stuffed with zucchini ($12)

There's an old school wood fired pizza oven here.

We tried the Pizza Napoletana, topped with tomato sauce, fresh burrata, and basil

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

I've had many good meals, but every once in a while, one stands out above the rest. This was my experience at The Factory Kitchen, which opened up in downtown LA recently. I didn't know much about it before, so I was quite surprised, but I really should've heard more. The chef, Angelo Auriana, was the executive chef at Valentino for 18 years before moving to Farina in San Francisco. The manager, Matteo Ferdinandi, was a business partner of Celestino Drago. Both of them are the epitome of Italian hospitality.

Because of the name, I was expecting a small restaurant, but the large dining room is simple but elegant.

The bar is headed by Karl Steuck, who was previously at Writer's Room and Hatfield's.

Bacanora is a rare find in the US, and I love how he used it in this cocktail.
I ordered the Soon To Be Divorced (tequila, campari, lime, agave, thyme - $10). I've never had tequila and campari together, but this was very drinkable with the lovely thyme aroma. Other than these seasonal drinks, Karl has a short list of classics as well.

For the wines, Francine Diamond Ferdinandi, who's worked at Gramercy Tavern and Spago, has created a small but impressive wine list. We left it to her to choose our wines and so should you.

Be sure to get the Prosciutto, which came in an unexpected form. 24 months Parma prosciutto is served atop a lightly fried sage dough, with some stracciatella in the middle ($18)

The focaccina is stuffed with crescenza cheese which was creamy but light.

Now, the pasta. Handmade pasta is one of my favorite things in the world and there's one pasta dish here that blows the rest away. It is the Mandilli de Seta (handkerchief pasta, Ligurian almond basil pesto, fiore sardo - $19)

This... This was outstanding. It's the dish that makes the entire table fall silent. So simple yet from the silky handmade pasta to the beautifully subdued pesto that covers it. This is a dish that you dream about days after eating it. It was heavenly paired with the white wine that Francine had chosen.

This is also a wonderful pappardelle, although it was difficult for me to go to other pasta after the previous one. I usually like pappardelle with meat ragu so I'm going to have to eat this again another time before the mandilli di seta.

I had to try one more drink. The Backyard Boogie (Templeton rye, root, fennel, absinthe mist, orange oil - $10) is perfect for those who prefer stronger, more aromatic cocktails.

For dessert, you can't miss the cannoli. We saw them make the cannoli shells earlier that night.

Perhaps it was the orange marmalade on one end, or the pistachio on the other, but this ricotta-filled cannoli was simply the best I've had.

Chef Angelo Auriana

I hadn't heard much about The Factory Kitchen prior to coming in, so I came in with no expectation and was wowed. I wasn't eating out when Chef Auriana was helming Valentino, so I never knew what it was like, but I'm glad he decided to return to Los Angeles with The Factory Kitchen.